NEW DOG

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nov 23 2016

a cover of Ed Askew’s “Blue Eyed Baby,” per special request:

oct 27 2016

the loose beginnings of the 2nd half of the next album, public domain footage edited to it.

sept 1 2016:
leaving for europe tonight, a week ahead of tour. probably won’t keep a journal for this next solo tour (sept 8-sept 22) because i’ll be busy having conversations with myself. if there are photos, i’ll post them upon return. if you’re reading this and i’m coming to your city, come out and have a beer with me! paka.

another experiment as i try to figure out where to go next, written with a full band in mind, recorded 8/13-8/14/16

july 20 2016:

1. Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon imagined as a mournful ballad:

2. Another albumless song. music and singing by New Dog, words by Menchaca. (from Frank Menchaca: “The story ties a neurotic traveler, a child in a refugee boat and books and dreams turning in ashes.”)

“… it is the sort of record that enfolds me, transports me, and calms me. It has depths to be plumbed, sonically and lyrically. It rewards those who take time with it, as opposed to trying to digest it on the fly…. He approaches vocals more like Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen–there are some melodies, but melodies are not required to create indelible vocal performances. The use of the noise in contrast to the relaxing arrangements accentuates the lyrics that alternate between very meticulous descriptions of modern ennui (“Here All Days,” “Home by Five,” “Nothing Has Changed”) and the intensity of regrets (“Joe Brainard’s Idea”) and fear of aging (“3 a.m.,” “The Party”). It’s just another carefully planned element of the album.”

“‘The Party’ and ‘Too Far’ follow, companion pieces about a party which will be thrown ‘but he won’t be there, and you’ll love him more for it’. The latter’s beautiful, sonorous piano accompaniment is a real highlight of the whole album. Closer ‘Would You Let Me In’, brings things to a head with a final desperate request for communication, for intimacy. That the album finishes with the request unanswered and the issues New Dog has presented unresolved is the crux of this whole project. Life is messy. It is confusing. It hurts. New Dog knows all this. Listening to this album lays plain that he has lived it, perhaps still is. Teeth Marks is a window into his journey, his life, his very soul. This is a decidedly lo-fi album. You won’t find all of the bells and whistles so prominent on so much contemporary folk music here. What you will find is one of 2016’s most honest records. It’s an album to delve into and in which to find beauty.”

“Not even a year after Classic Ballroom Dances came out last June, New Dog’s work continues to layer as many difficult emotions and varying instruments into a sad but ultimately soothing collage…. Electric keyboard and a grand piano overlap like yin and yang. The flourishes don’t feel contrived, even when electric drums meet classical guitar, and the end result is an eloquent snapshot of dystopia.” (8/10)

was a huge honor joining Sun Kil Moon last night at the Somerville theater for a cover of Nick Cave’s “Weeping Song.” Mark was nothing but kind before, during and after, and put on one of the most entertaining shows i’ve seen in a while. highlights: soundchecking with the band; standing 3 feet from Steve Shelley and hearing the slap of his brushes on his knees during the verses; the band’s rendition of Judy Collins’ version of “Send in the Clowns”; an epic, gorgeous “Micheline”; “Alesund” rewritten for the piano and guitar; hearing Mark sing my name in his closing credits. Anna was only able to snap two blurry photos before the usher threatened to kick her out.

in other news:
-the next album is fully recorded! not sure yet when it will come out.
-i’m playing a house show in boston on October 24th: https://www.facebook.com/events/1042784032407982/
-short string of solo shows coming in early November. at very least Philly and NYC.

Classic Ballroom Dances came out one month ago today. (that’s the equivalent of five years in the internet age.) It’s passed under the radar, but I think it’s a solid record. When it was finished and KRS said they wanted to release it I finally realized that I could work alone without hiding behind anyone—so it’s an important one for me too. I have a lot of (mostly) good memories recording it—howling in the living room reaching for those high notes in Dusklands; singing Out of the Blue at least ten times because passing cars kept fucking up the track—I think you can still hear one or two—; struggling to keep my guitar from falling out of tune mid-song (Fires) during a heat wave last July; transposing chords from the guitar to the piano and feeling like I found the missing key; hitting a wrong note over and over on the keyboard and turning that into the chorus for Love, playing that chorus on repeat late into the night with Anna asleep five feet behind me.
Well it’s best not to reflect for too long. If you bought a copy, thanks for the support. I’m deeply grateful. If you haven’t yet heard it you should give it a listen when you have 32 minutes: https://newdog.bandcamp.com/.

june 29 2015:

back from tour, back to working on the next record. gave up on updating the tour journal, but i’ll go back to it now and add the highlights. if you’re interested hopefully you found me here: http://facebook.com/newdogmusic. here are some photos, taken by vlastik vojacek:

june 3 2015

i promised i’d write here for the few who will want to follow. mostly it’s an exercise in discipline. there isn’t much to do anyway—flashes of sightseeing, but mainly driving and nursing beers and waiting. although anna reminded me this morning that i did see a pack of wolves last time.

i’m traveling with a mini ipad and the tiniest keyboard i’ve ever typed on, so expect typos. the shift button also gets lost, so capitalization is out the window. right now I’m writing from a real computer but practicing. i’m also depending on Justin to take the photos since i’m not bringing a camera.

I’ll be playing shows in Europe, joined by my friend Justin on drums, from June 6th until June 24th. If our paths will cross, come on out and have a drink with us. We’ll also be playing a week of shows down the east coast in July. (dates tba.) I’ll post photos, videos and ramblings when I can:

there are all kinds of wonderful things happening around the city today, and the temperature finally climbed to 70 degrees. so naturally i’ve holed up to continue writing for the next album. here’s a snippet of what’s to come–although i’m not going to record it until Classic Ballroom Dances breaks even:https://soundcloud.com/new_dog/untitled-non-album-clip-1

also, the Cambridge, MA show is now on May 14th: https://www.facebook.com/events/1387551274903897/

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apr 24 2015

it’s on.

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apr 14 2015

hey, i’m on twitter now: http://twitter.com/newdogmusic. posting one influential song a day for the rest of the month, and probably haikus whenever i’m tipsy. #idontknowwhatimdoing.

in general, it’s easier to post on facebook and twitter than to update this news section which hardly anyone reads, so please follow me on twitter or at the facebook (http://facebook.com/newdogmusic) if you want regular updates.

if you’re in boston, keep the evening of may 12th open, by the way. more details to come soon, but we’ll be playing a warm-up show ahead of the june/july tours. don’t fret, oldens, we won’t go on too late. and if you’re lucky, i’ll forget all the piano songs and it’ll turn into an experimental set/comedy show.

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mar 24 2015

Excited to announce that the next New Dog album (Classic Ballroom Dances) will be released by the iconic Kill Rock Stars records on June 2nd. There is a limited pressing on vinyl, and the first 50 people to order it will receive a handwritten set of lyrics and sketch and a Travels 7″. Each one of those sets of lyrics took nearly an hour to write, so i attribute any smudged ink to tears.

Pre-order the album (LP or digital) and check out the album trailer here:

release details + final tracklisting coming soon. meanwhile, i’m happy to announce that i’ve joined the Nicodemus Agency‘s booking roster. This means i’ll finally be playing shows in the states again–joined by Justin Kehoe on drums–beginning with a couple of short routes in July. Meanwhile, the June ’15 european tour is coming together nicely. If you’re in Germany/Belgium/Czech Republic/Poland/Slovakia and haven’t heard from me, send a note and let’s set something up!

oh, and big thanks to ashley schaffert for these new press photos. she made the whole awkward process way more tolerable than i ever thought possible.

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jan 20 2015

huge news about the new album coming soon. i started an official New Dog facebook page to keep in touch over what will be a busy year–beginning with a trip back to Europe in June. i promise i won’t post too many cat pics.

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jan 5 2015

the masters are in! going to be playing/touring with a drummer on this new record. first time in nearly a decade.

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december 6 2014

finished with the album. and the mixes are just about there.

i try not to dwell on previous recordings too much, but this one feels special.

art and final details to come soon.

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september 5 2014

bad news: i broke my elbow last month. good news: it’s a minor crack, and there’s no cast needed, so i’m taking time off from boxing and suddenly have a batch of new songs in the works, and two more ballads recorded. a few more and the album is done. hoping for a release early next year. more to come.

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mar 12 2014

just got these lovely photos from my new friend David, who hosted the house show in Switzerland.

Not much else to report. Writing a bunch of songs, piece by piece, all at once, recording and deleting, recording and deleting. Will be a while before the next one.

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feb 25 2014

home sweet home. no gear was stolen or lost or broken. no fights. no accidents. all in all, a success. thanks to all of the kind promoters & showgoers for making it a great one. now, back to work.

“This whole winter has been until now total about anything. While this wide area evoked more enthusiasm, I do not like at all, really. Winter has yet to come. The right, with snow and frost visible all around. Finally came, and the snow. Just the day that I first embarked on this album – New Dog. As if waiting for it until it finally released.

It was not otherwise than take the dog and go with the freshly snow-Kohoutovice New Doge. It’s quite clear to calls, but that night I really came exactly for these situations Anar wrote those songs. On the one hand, it may seem subtle, soothing and sleepy, but in reality they are cruelly piercing – like freezing air, which from a distance just slightly flickers under the lights of the city lights, but also cuts nicely into your hand. Likewise me these songs on the first real winter evening came quite quickly under the skin. And I hope that there will last at least until the thaw comes.

In fact, it became a ritual. Night walk the dog must be New Dog. When you hear the beginning Sleeping Bag, “Dreams not over yet, but I’m waking up”, I’m on the way up the hill. And at the end of Slow Drifting how actually almost cheerful song vygraduje to whacking a drum machine, which still continues in Dog Bite, I was upstairs and I currently have a view of the entire Kohoutovice. The ideal time for a cigarette. Before I return home, I finished playing the entire album. And it runs, I do not know how.”

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January 7, 2014
another kind and thoughtful review, from boston’s clicky clicky music blog (thank you, jay, as always):http://jbreitling.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-new-dog-lost-weekend.html
and another one from Czech Republic: http://slushzine.com/2014/01/05/new-dog-ze-statu-se-zastavi-v-plzenskem-zachs-pubu/. (thank you, David; can’t wait to make the debut in Pilsen.) Not sure how much justice this google translate does it, but think of it like poetry:
“NEW DOG – a state of perpetual accomplishment, freedom, idea ideas, virtue, virtues, a story where a person so unimportant in the light of the world, the infinity of thoughts and desires of the corruption becomes abolutní backlash in the story beyond good and evil. NEW DOG snowy landscape hearts, paw prints in the mud and the long journey to the last empty capillaries weak body. Where twilight begins, the last sunset glow disappears below the horizon and on the face of it appears that smile that says that perhaps eternity, only the short eternity I have to wait in agony out there exactly where they were born NEW DOG, where you play Lost Weekend headphone and count the seconds of eternity, for every one point will be added to the wall, each by a simple deleting and starting again. This music sends me home, to the point where my mother hugging me and telling me that I do not have to worry about a place where time stands still touches eternity. Here I’m free, I’m here absolute. If the word is living, the ease with which Anar presents his magnum opus here is the incorporation of all that is on the earth divine, in the sense of me as an absolute divine will. Who would want to find the facts here: http://newdog.bandcamp.com/”
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December 13, 2013
eight weeks and 118 emails later, the first New Dog European tour has finally come together (almost).

here’s the poster for the tour:

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November 30, 2013
so flattered that sleeping bag inspired a short piece from the very talented Sean Michaels at Said the Gramophone:http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/kept_morning.php
“A song that turns over, that shifts in its own shadow, as time goes on. It begins as direct address; it ends in solitary quiet, interwoven guitar. There is a guitar solo like a felled wood. There is movement in the air.
Sleeping bag is an ugly phrase. But is anything more intimate than a shared bedroll? Two cocooned shapes, tall sky, earth that seems to go on forever. Touch and murmur, equilibrium, dew. A closeness that can be too close, or next to too close.
A man in a sleeping bag knows the outside space like he is already in it. He feels the tremors in the air. He feels the dappled light. He feels the wind that passes between grassblades, doorposts, hills.
A song like this, you wonder: what would we do without guitars? How would we show the world?”
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November 15, 2013
really nice review of “Lost Weekend” in the Boston Globe today. thank you, Luke.http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2013/11/14/noisy-neighbors-new-dog-lost-weekend/WCJ0Hwt03HnvzWdJ3rCfrI/story.html
“… ‘Dog Bite’ is a largely instrumental track that devolves into static percussion, while ‘Smoking in the Living Room’ glistens with brightly interlocking guitar lines. ‘Do you wanna start a family? You can almost smell the fire. Do you wanna see the flames?’ he asks on the slow-burn bucolic folk of ‘Baltimore,’ sounding both ominous and amorous at once, a pretty close approximation of the record’s overall unsettling affect.”
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October 15, 2013
The first solo record is up for pre-order. You can stream a few tracks and order it at the bandcamp: http://www.newdog.bandcamp.com. I have a very limited print-run of this one, with some surreal cover art from the artist Vasilios Paspalis.
The reviews aren’t in yet, but one kind blogger writes, “Smoking In The Living Room weaves finger-picked guitars, a simple metronomic beat and tinkling piano into a soft tapestry of sounds that dissipates as quickly as it takes shape. Slow Drifting bounces around a pokey rhythm with a playing style more attuned to acoustic blues before coalescing around some big melodic chords in the song’s final minute… Badalov still possesses great facility in building music centered around an entrancing, meditative core.”
I’m really proud of this one, and hope you’ll enjoy it, too–preferably late at night, in the dark.
Thanks as always for the support.

Anar
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October 1, 2013
hey there friends, the new website is up and running. voila. updates:
-Lost Weekend will officially be available on November 26th, 2013. You can order it over at the bandcamp (www.newdog.bandcamp.com).
-Been hard at work practicing the tunes with my buddy James Lynch (on guitar and keys and sampler), and we should be playing around the Boston/NYC/Baltimore area come November/December. Planning on coming to Europe (germany/france/czech republic/poland) in February 2014. Fingers crossed.
-join the mailing list? pretty please.
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August 19, 2013
NEW DOG is on rotation at the Nave Gallery exhibit about Somerville artists and musicians. details:

The Nave Gallery (Somerville, MA) will host a group exhibition From August 10-31 in its annex gallery space in Davis Square. Featuring 12 Somerville-based artists, Entering Somerville showcases art inspired by or created from the people, events and geography taking place in the 4.2 square miles that make up the City of Somerville, MA.
This group exhibition is juried by printmaker Ted Ollier and Brian and Steven Beaucher of Boston Coasters and Wardmaps. The exhibition presents work by Cathy Piantigini, Seth Berkowitz, Grace Durnford, Stan Eichner, Danielle Festa, Pauline Lim, Suzanne Lubeck, Leonardo March, Rachel Mello, Peter Murphy, Catie Nasser, Rachel Strutt and Marshall Zidel.
“Somerville is an interesting mix of many worlds,” Ollier states. “On one hand, it is a hotbed of creativity. From visual art to music to public festivals, this city revels in artistic expression. But there is still something very old-world about it. Maybe it’s the prevalence of yard shrines that hold fast amidst the condo-izing of triple deckers; or the fact that you’ll likely run into your neighbor at a square nearby—no matter how hip it’s become. It’s one of the densest cities in the US, and it still retains a small-town feel. People live here because it strikes a chord. So, why not have a show celebrating it?”
Ollier collaborated with the brothers Beaucher—Brian and Steven—of Boston Coasters and Wardmaps to put on the show. “It was a perfect fit for us,” says Steven Beaucher. Our businesses focus on geography and place and the emotional response that people have to the space they call “home.” Somerville is one of our most sought after subjects. People connect with the city and its people in a very meaningful way.”
Entering Somerville also spotlights the city’s musical talent. A compilation of music from musicians who have influenced the Somerville scene will be played on a loop during the exhibit. The soundtrack features: Abbie Barrett, Audrey Ryan, Banditas, Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion, Dan Blakeslee, The Dents, Faces on Film, Gem Club, Ghost Box Orchestra, Hands and Knees, Magic People, Movers & Shakers, New Dog, Quarterly, Ryan Lee Crosby, Sleepy Very Sleepy, Tim Gearan and the Tony the Bookie Orchestra. Jenn Harrington, a Somerville resident who has produced numerous art exhibitions and events throughout the city, organized the soundtrack for the show.
An opening reception will take place Friday, August 9, 2013, 6-9:00 pm. Nave Gallery Annex, 53 Chester Ave, Somerville, MA 02144 Exhibition Dates and Hours: August 10-August 31, 2013, Wed-Fri 6-8, Sat 2-8, Sun 2-6